Siriusly
by FromMyMind
Summary: The long-time-in-coming prequel to Forged. Sirius. Bored. Transfiguration lecture. Mistletoe. Everybody's favourite couple. Nuff said.


**This is the story that I wrote after realizing that the story I intended as my prequel to _Forged_ was not going to work. So I changed my mind and wrote this one. I know _Forged_ was a Christmas story and this one should be a Christmas story seeing as it also involves mistletoe, but my inspiration was elsewhere and who am I to challenge my muse? Yes, it's late – suck it up. **

**Disclaimer: Disclaimed.**

"And therefore, a werewolf differs from an Animagus in two key points; namely..."

Sirius was trying his level best to tune out McGonagall's lecture. It wasn't that Transfiguration was boring, it was just that this lecture was boring. _Give me a break! I _am_ an Animagus! My best friend is a werewolf! I would think I knew the difference between the two!_

As a true tribute to the absolute uselessness of the lesson to the Marauders, not even Remus was listening. His quill was scribbling down notes (in case McGonagall threw in a phrase that she'd want in the NEWTs), but the lycanthrope himself was playing noughts and crosses with Peter. James … well, as always, James was staring at Lily.

Sirius tried his best to focus on anything but the lesson. _Christmas is coming up. Wonder if James is going home?If Lily's staying, he'll stay … then I will too. His mum will send her good fudge and Lally's choc-chip doughnuts … wonder if we could sneak in some Firewhiskey? Could have some good fun on Christmas Eve. Speaking of fun … we only have a week to plan and pull off this year's Christmas prank. Let's see … the mistletoe always goes down well … but it's so cliché! I mean, in books, they only use the mistletoe for that stupid pumpkin-pie romance, or whatever Lily calls it. Where everything is like a script in a frigging movie. Kind of like Lily and James..._

With that thought, Sirius sat straight up. _Well, why not? I'm bored. The sexual tension between those two is ridiculous – Lily's been acting like a smitten puppy dog since they started sharing that dorm. And Remus will help me with anything I can't get right myself._

Sirius reached for a piece of paper and his quill and scribbled a note, which he then tossed onto Remus' desk. **Moony – got a plan. May need your help. Lily + James + Mistletoe = ? Let me know if McGonagall notices what I'm doing.**

Remus read the note quickly, sighed, but then nodded, turning away to hide his smile.

Sirius knew Charms wasn't his forte, but he cast as good a Notice-Me-Not as he could manage before starting to dig through his suitcase. As he worked to Transfigure a Dungbomb (left over from the Halloween prank) into a sprig of mistletoe, he contemplated how best to pull off the prank.

A piece of paper soon appeared on Sirius' desk. The precise writing belonged to one Remus Lupin. He had written out all the spells that Sirius would need to cast on the mistletoe to make it effective. Sirius grinned his thanks.

Fifteen minutes later, spellwork complete, Sirius had come up with a way to get Lily and James under the mistletoe – preferably causing a scene in the middle of the classroom. He groaned and stuck his hand into the air. "Professor, I don't feel well."

McGonagall looked up, first annoyed at being interrupted, but then alarmed at the look on her student's face. "Go. Lupin, take him to the bathroom."

Remus stood up and hammed the role very well, letting Sirius lean on him until they were clear of the door. Then Sirius spat something from his mouth into his handkerchief, and instantly looked better. "Ugh! I forget how much I hate these things." He pocketed the Insta-Sick-Swirl, wrapped in the hankie, and grabbed Remus by the arm. "Come, we have to run! There's a time-activation charm on that thing, you know."

"_What_ exactly are we doing?" Remus panted as he tried to keep up with the running Sirius.

"Getting James and Lily under the mistletoe."

"And we can accomplish that by leaving the castle?" Remus asked as it became apparent where they were headed.

"You doubt me?"

James was bored. This lesson was pointless to him. He had spent the majority of it staring at Lily, who was taking ardent notes. As always, he was blisteringly aware of her – every move she made managed to be appealing. But a recent development was that she seemed to be just as aware of him. She glanced back often – usually to find his eyes on her – and was constantly shifting position, as so to align herself with him. _Why won't she just admit it? I mean, she has to know that my feelings haven't changed. After six years? That's insane! And she knows she feels it. I mean, in the common __room yesterday..._

They had been studying together for an upcoming DADA exam – James was struggling with the theory, Lily with the practical, so it had made sense for the friends to work together. They had had to bury the hatchet anyway, working together as Heads, and living in such close proximity, becoming friends was inevitable. They had gone over the theory first – Lily showed him a simple chart that made understanding the theory simple – and then moved onto the practical work. _Impedimenta_ wasn't a difficult charm to cast, but Lily didn't like even slightly hurting people she knew. (When she had told her friend Alice that, Alice had laughed and asked outright how she could have been hexing James all those years. Lily had blushed and not answered.) So James had stood in front of her in the common room. "Take your best shot."

Lily had lifted her wand and James had advanced, but at the last moment, she lowered it. "James, I can't."

James stopped. "Lils, it's me. James. Potter. Toerag with the big head. You've hexed me a million times. What's the difference?"

Lily had almost no voice as she whispered, "You're not that toerag anymore. You're mature and polite and … amazing." And with that, she had turned and run into her bedroom.

"The owlery?" Remus looked at Sirius as if he thought the other boy was going mad.

"Yes, Remus, the owlery. Now, give me your quill." Sirius snatched the quill from behind Remus' ear and scrabbled a piece of parchment out of his own pocket. Remus leaned over Sirius' shoulder to read what he was writing, and then sighed. It was so absolutely crazy that it would have to work.

Remus and Sirius both returned to the classroom ("Madam Pomfrey gave me a potion, so I'm fine now, Professor") and sat down in good time to see what was going to happen. Neither could focus on their work, and only Remus made a valid attempt at pretending to. Although when the owl tapped at the window, even he looked up in grinning anticipation.

McGonagall scowled at being interrupted again, but she went to the window and took the note from the owl's leg. She scanned it briefly. "Mr Potter, Miss Evans, the Headmaster wants to see you immediately."

Lily neatly stacked her book and parchment before standing; James attempted to pull himself back to reality. Remus had his wand at the ready under his desk, and as the pair were walking next to each other, he moved the mistletoe so that it was right over their heads. The time-activation charm went off flawlessly, and James, slightly in front of Lily, was thrown backwards into the redhead.

"James!" Lily exclaimed, but as she fell backwards, she hit an invisible wall and was thrown forwards. James just caught her before drawing his wand and poking it into the air in front of him. It hit a wall, and knowing already what he'd see, he looked up.

It appeared Lily had come to the same conclusion, because she looked up at the same time. "Oh, Merlin."

"Sirius!" James' fists clenched at seeing his friend's altogether-far-too-pleased-with-himself face.

"Remus too," Lily said softly.

"I'll make them get rid of it," James said; Sirius just smirked.

"No." Lily grabbed his arm and pulled, so that his ear came down to the level of her mouth. She whispered just a few words so that nobody else could hear. And seconds later, to the utter amazement of everybody else in the room, James Potter and Lily Evans were kissing as if they'd been doing it for years.

James was blown away. When Lily had whispered, 'Hogsmeade. Saturday. Just you and me,' he had known that something had finally brought her out of her denial. And he had honestly meant to just give her a peck on the lips so that they could be freed, but when her lips touched his, he couldn't help himself. He pulled her into his arms and held her as close as he'd dreamed of since fourth year.

Lily finally felt free. She had known for quite some time that she was in denial when it came to James Potter, her co-Head. It had started when her heart had leapt at seeing his name on the parchment that had informed her she was Head Girl. It had only gotten worse when they started sharing the Heads' Dorm. And she really had wanted to tell him but how do you admit that you've realized that you've been wrong for six years because you're _Lily Evans_ for Merlin's sake and you're never wrong but really you've fallen for James Potter even though you swore you never would and now his bloody friends have given you a way to show him and you whisper his own words softly in his ear and then you're kissing him and you realize that your life hasn't been complete until now. And you really don't want to stop because you love the feeling of his hand in your hair but there are cat-calls and wolf-whistles intruding on your tiny island of bliss in a raging sea of war – and then there's a wand tapping you on the shoulder. And you see the ten-inch pine and realize it's Marlene's and she's smirking. And you pull away from James, but hold onto his arm because you're dizzy and from the look on James' face he's not much better.

McGonagall clears her throat as if she's already done it four times (which, Remus will later tell them, she has). "Mr Potter! Miss Evans! Such behaviour! Never in all my years at Hogwarts have I seen the head students behave in such an inappropriate manner!"

James grins. "But Professor, I doubt any of the other head students have had a best friend as sodding _impossible_ as Sirius, did they?"

McGonagall's eyebrows flew into her hairline as she looked at the other boy. "Mr Black? Did you have something to do with this?"

Very proud of himself, Sirius nodded.

"And Mr Lupin, I presume?"

Remus looked like he wanted to snatch the Invisibility Cloak from James' bag to make a quick escape.

As McGonagall walked towards the centre of the classroom, where James and Lily were still standing arm-in-arm, and Sirius was leaning back in his chair, and Remus was just cringing, all four of the students realized somewhere in the backs of their heads that she looked angry. She stopped and stared for a few seconds. "Right." Her face was grim. "Mr Black, that's five points from Gryffindor for lying to get out of a lecture, and five for faking a note from the Headmaster. Mr Lupin, five points for going along with it. And as for you two," she rounded on the head students, "five each for inappropriate displays of affection." She spun on her heel to head back to her low platform, but then turned back. "However – Mr Black – thirty points," the entire room of Gryffindors groaned in exasperation, "_to_ Gryffindor for _finally_ getting those two clueless fools together. Mr Lupin – fifteen points for somehow making sure Mr Black did the spells right – that's impressive. Mr Potter, ten for being a gentleman, and Miss Evans, ten for finally getting your act together and having the guts to act on it."

The room broke out in cheers. James, in a fit of joy, spun Lily around in a tight hug. Sirius, still leaning back on his chair, looked even more pleased with himself. Then James turned on his friend. Without a word, a flick of his wand had Sirius' chair tumbling backwards, and Sirius himself sprawled on the floor. "James! Bloody hell!" From his undignified position, Sirius yelled up at his smirking friend. "What the hell was that for?"

Remus leaned forwards to address the boy on the floor. "Honour code of the Marauder – Rule eight. A Marauder may never play a potentially harmful prank on another Marauder."

"How was that potentially harmful?"

Marlene snorted. "Forcing James to kiss and armed Lily. Totally safe."

"She's been looking at him with googly eyes since September!" Sirius defended himself, making no move to get up from the floor. "_Seriously_, James? You did that just because I finally got you the girl of your dreams?"

"Yes, Padfoot," James replied as he wrapped one arm around Lily's shoulders. "_Siriusly_."

**And that's that! It's shorter than _Forged_, I know, but this is about the length I intended for both of them, and I only got it right for this one. If you want a longer one, keep an eye out for the Marauder-age story that was meant to be this one (okay, I know that makes no sense, but I have a headache right now so spare me) which may or may not morph into a two or three-shot when my muse lets me get back to it. And I'm starting school on Wednesday and it's my last year so who knows when I'll get time to write again? I'll try my best though, and reviews will help!**

**Please review – it's great knowing that you like the story enough to favourite it, but that doesn't tell me exactly what it is about the story that you liked. Also, if you enjoyed this but missed _Forged_, please check it out! It's a H/Hr pairing involving the Weasley twins and mistletoe. As for the other stories I suggested at the end of _Forged_ – I'll get there. I promise. I don't know when, but I will. I won't add to either this or that, though, so Story Alert won't help much.**

**Okay, I need to go to sleep even though it's only half-past five, because I'm rambling. I'll shut up now. Very late Happy New Year.**


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